Keanu Reeves, Social Media and the New Metrics

NAME OF CONTACT: John Tenpenny, Manager of Communications, FDS Broker Services

I’m fortunate to have raised both my 24 & 25 year old daughters on the “MATRIX” franchise which with the inclusion of all three movies, grossed over $742,000,000.

“The Matrix … depicts a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called “the Matrix”, created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies’ heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Computer programmer “Neo” learns this truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the “dream world”.”

In 2014 there’s a new Matrix. It’s called “METRICS”. Instead of a world filled with sentient beings, code and alternate realities, we’re dealing with the real world in which social media requires real world measurement and performance. Shareholders demand a return on investment (ROI). Companies all over the world are dealing with Social Media metrics. We are well beyond the .com era of valuations at 1,100 times earnings. Companies in multiple sectors are thinking through their business models to determine how social media affects their bottom line.

Here at FRDI our position is very clear; FRC is the mortgage product, FRDI is a diversified real estate development company, and FDS is the point of sale provider. FRDI has no point of sale (POS). Our focus is education based, offering our clients information services with timely tools; meaning, as funded projects progress through the construction stages, our clients want to see real time up dates. We measure our success by the timelines of the project updates as reported by our executive members (Jawad Rathore, Frank Margani and Ben Myers). Our executives are very comfortable with TWITTER and FACEBOOK. They prefer TWITTER; updates are instantaneous.

The SMI product is offered through three main distribution channels; the largest in the country is FDS BROKER SERVICES INC. (FDS). FDS has earned its reputation as the premiere distributor of the FRC SMI product. I met with John Tenpenny, Manager of Communications at FDS Broker Services on 11/03/14. We discussed social media and specifically the area around metrics and FDS’ emerging strategies. See below for my one-on-one interview.

LESSONS LEARNED

Social media metrics and measurement is an art not a science.

Executives and shareholders expect ROI.

Social media needs to be measured against corporate vision, values & goals.

Measurement of social media will mean different things to different companies

For some companies, measurement will mean the number of hits on a site; others on how those hits translate into contact points by email or telephone; still others, closed business. Did the client buy? Will the client buy again and how often?

Social media and communications managers are developing systems and methodologies for tracking social media.